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Rankings: California Powerhouses

  • May 19, 2015

    California Powerhouse: Cooley

    In 1959, Cooley LLP helped form pioneering chip company National Semiconductor Corp., one of the original companies that gave Silicon Valley its name. More than 50 years later, the Palo Alto-based firm continues to be a leader in technology-related matters while carving out a considerable niche in finance and high-stakes litigation.

  • May 18, 2015

    California Powerhouses Pack Big Tech Punch

    As the technology sector continues to dominate the California legal markets, intellectual property litigation heavyweights, transactional firms with an eye on Asia and practices targeting middle-market companies and startups are rising above the rest, earning their place as California Powerhouses for 2015.

  • August 01, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Wilson Sonsini

    Larry Sonsini graduated from law school at the University of California, Berkeley, in the mid-1960s and was considering some "old guard" firms for his first job. But as he watched engineers leave Hewlett-Packard Co. and other established companies to found startups — a much rarer occurrence than today — Sonsini was drawn by the energy surrounding the creation of new technologies. 

  • July 31, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Skadden

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP has had a formidable presence in California for more than 30 years, enabling the global firm to tap into the Silicon Valley technology boom and serve clients across the corporate spectrum in the Golden State and beyond in complex transactions and major litigation.

  • July 30, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Sheppard Mullin

    Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP began as a general practice Los Angeles firm, weathered the Great Depression in its infancy and has since made itself invaluable to companies doing business in California, netting major intellectual property wins for HTC Corp. and crafting a complicated $550 million aerospace deal in a week.

  • July 29, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Seyfarth Shaw

    In 1973, at a time when U.S. law firms largely focused on single regions, Chicago-based Seyfarth Shaw LLP noticed Vegas hotel-casino employers and California agricultural companies lacking representation in labor disputes and directed two of its lawyers to set up camp in Los Angeles. More than four decades later, the gamble has paid off, with the pioneering firm having reaped some of the biggest labor and employment litigation wins in the Golden State.

  • July 28, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Quinn Emanuel

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, founded by four lawyers in Los Angeles in the 1980s, has grown into the world's largest law firm dedicated solely to business litigation, racking up a number of important wins on behalf of large corporations and small startups alike.

  • July 25, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Pillsbury

    Since opening its doors in San Francisco in the 1870s, the firm now known as Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has spread throughout California, using its expansive roster of litigators and corporate transaction attorneys to retain century-old clients including AT&T Inc. and Chevron Corp.

  • July 24, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Meyers Nave

    In less than three decades, Meyers Nave Riback Silver & Wilson has grown from a small municipal law firm in the San Francisco Bay Area into one of the leading firms for local governments and public agencies throughout the state as well as private clients focused on complex, public-facing transportation and development projects.

  • July 23, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Nossaman LLP

    Longtime employees of Nossaman LLP's San Francisco office can remember when former state lawmaker John T. Knox — a prolific author of California legislation — first began roaming the halls of the firm that would, for a time, carry his name. Although the firm has since rebranded, Knox's passion for lawmaking helped anchor a public service mentality at the firm that echoes today in much of its work, its attorneys say.

  • July 22, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Munger Tolles & Olson

    In 1962, a group of seven attorneys led by Charlie Munger formed Munger Tolles & Olson LLP, a firm intended to be a democratic organization. Fifty-two years later, the firm — still exclusively located in California — maintains a nontraditional decision-making structure, all the while delivering high-stakes trial and litigation victories to clients in industries including entertainment, technology, energy and health care.

  • July 21, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Morrison & Foerster

    Morrison & Foerster LLP, founded in San Francisco in the 1880s, has kept its practice in California thriving through some of the most high-profile technology and life science representations in the state, including recent intellectual property litigation wins on behalf of Apple Inc., Sandoz Inc. and other top companies.

  • July 18, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Mitchell Silberberg

    The free music-sharing engines of Napster and its copycats were gutted more than a decade ago, but the attorneys at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP who helped content creators score the injunction against Napster's system say the case impacted their careers in ways that still echo today.

  • July 17, 2014

    California Powerhouse: O'Melveny

    O'Melveny & Myers LLP's footprint in California is deep, and the firm's long-standing reputation and deep bench of talent within the state have kept clients coming back for guidance on everything from headline-grabbing litigation to groundbreaking cross-border transactions.

  • July 16, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Latham & Watkins

    Latham & Watkins LLP is one of the largest law firms in the nation and was the first American law firm to reach $2 billion in revenue, but its California-based attorneys say the firm's global success is tied directly to its Los Angeles roots.

  • July 15, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Jones Day

    More than 40 years after opening its first of five offices in California, Jones Day — the United States' biggest law firm — has assembled a seemingly invincible array of reputed litigation and corporate transaction attorneys who buttress a towering client roster featuring Apple Inc., Chevron Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

  • July 14, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Irell & Manella

    From its two offices located within 50 miles in Southern California, the "intentionally smaller" Irell & Manella LLP has emphasized quality over quantity while racking up big wins for a wide array of clients, particularly in intellectual property disputes and general criminal and civil litigation, its attorneys say.

  • July 11, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Gordon & Rees

    In 1974, before San Francisco became synonymous with Internet startups or record real estate prices, Stuart Gordon and Donald Rees started a small law firm keenly focused on insurance defense. From that modest start, Gordon & Rees LLP has expanded into seven offices across the Golden State, thriving on defending employers from worker class actions in California's regulation-heavy environment. 

  • July 10, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Gibson Dunn

    Gibson Dunn's California attorneys have been major players in the state's legal landscape since the firm's inception 124 years ago as a small practice in Los Angeles, and they continue to consistently secure precedent-setting trial victories and seal multibillion-dollar transactions.

  • July 09, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Farella Braun & Martel

    In 1966, only a few years after Frank Farella had launched a new law firm, client Robert Mondavi asked his attorney to help him in a clash with his brother that would eventually split the famous winemaker from his family business. Since then, Farella Braun & Martel LLP has grown from a small northern California business to an international player — much like the California wineries that have it on speed dial.

  • July 08, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Cooley

    When Arthur Cooley and Louis Crowley formed their two-man California law firm in San Francisco in 1920, the world wasn't yet familiar with the industry sectors that would give Cooley LLP its identity: venture capital, and high-tech products and services.



  • July 07, 2014

    California Powerhouse: Best Best & Krieger

    With California facing one of the most severe water shortfalls in the state's history, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought state of emergency earlier this year, calling on Californians to conserve water in every way possible. Amid this resource crisis, Best Best & Krieger LLP, a firm that has been at the forefront of the state's most important water rights cases, has risen to the challenge.

  • July 03, 2014

    Calif. Powerhouses Leverage Tech Boom, Asia Ties

    As one of the world's largest economies, California is a hub for legal work in virtually every industry and practice area. But with the continued rise of tech startups and the accelerating growth of markets in Asia, the 20 firms on Law360's list of California Powerhouses have thrived in large measure by catering to the needs of burgeoning tech titans and by bridging the legal gap between East and West.

  • June 10, 2013

    FCPA Powerhouse: WilmerHale

    With decades of experience tackling Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases and a deep bench of attorneys who each handle both counseling and investigation, WilmerHale has become a go-to firm for foreign bribery matters.

  • June 07, 2013

    FCPA Powerhouse: Willkie Farr

    Over the past year, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP has helped Tyco International Ltd. escape brutal punishment for bribing government officials abroad, and on the flip side, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scandal surrounding Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has laid bare the potential consequences of not heeding the firm's advice.

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